QUESTION PERIOD — Environment and Climate Change
Carbon Tax
June 17, 2024
Leader, last week, as a result of pressure from the Conservative Party, the government disclosed the numbers regarding the economic impact of the infamous carbon tax. This tax will cost the Quebec economy $5 billion and the Canadian economy $30.5 billion. Those numbers were given to the Parliamentary Budget Officer on the sine qua non condition that he not disclose them. Senator Gold, why did the government insist on silencing the Parliamentary Budget Officer, an officer of Parliament? Were you afraid of the truth?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. As I explained, the information that was provided to the officer of Parliament was not a full analysis. From what I understand, the numbers provided pertained only to one aspect of the pollution pricing situation. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer told the National Post today, he was not prohibited from disclosing all of the information. The information in question was only part of an analysis, not a full analysis, and that is why it was not disclosed.
So you’re confirming not only that Steven Guilbeault hid the truth from Quebecers and Canadians, but also that, as a consequence of that, he also lied about the cost of the carbon tax when he said the cost would be zero and have no economic impact. Will the minister resign and, if so, when?
He is not going to resign. He didn’t lie. As I said, respectfully, if you add up the cost of doing nothing about climate change, if you keep saying “axe the tax,” as you keep repeating, if you don’t calculate the money that is returned to Canadians, which represents roughly $10 million every year, then that paints a fair and appropriate picture.
Leader, page 24 of the Liberal Party’s 2015 election platform stated, “Government and its information should be open by default. Data paid for by Canadians belongs to Canadians.”
Here we are, nine years later, and the Environment Minister was caught trying to prevent the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, from revealing the truth about the carbon tax. As well, leader, you would not commit to tabling an answer when I asked you last week how many times the PBO and other officers or agents of Parliament had received similar requests of silence from the Trudeau government.
Leader, are there any more reports or data sets about the carbon tax your government is hiding from Canadians, whose tax dollars paid for this information?
Again, and with respect, clearly you’re entitled to continue to say what you want to say and disregard my answers. However, the fact is that the information that was provided and that is regularly provided by the government or is commissioned for the government goes into a proper, fulsome and responsible analysis of the costs and benefits.
Let me quote from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. I believe this was a quote that he gave at committee today, where he said that:
The government is not muzzling me. Obviously, I was making a reference to data that was provided to me and my office that the government or Environment and Climate Change Canada . . . .
We can choose to have a different perspective on this, but, leader, how do we square this gag order that Minister Guilbeault placed on the Parliamentary Budget Officer with the Trudeau government’s 2015 promise of a government “open by default”? If transparency and accountability mean anything to your government, how do you reconcile Minister Guilbeault trying to keep this report secret and his attempt to discredit the PBO?
There’s no attempt to the discredit the PBO. The government has been clear in its analysis and in its conclusions that the price on pollution when all factors are taken into account — rebates to Canadians, the investments coming into Canada, the risk of losing capital investment if we don’t have a credible climate change policy — makes this the most market-sensitive and appropriate policy for this government, for any government, for this country.
